Cricket betting racket busted in Odisha

A cricket betting racket involving T20 and other matches was busted by the police following the arrest of three persons from Odisha's Sambalpur district, police said on Sunday.

Acting on a tip off, the police raided a house at Raja Nagar of Sunapali area of Sambalpur on Friday night and arrested three persons while they were taking bets.

"Four persons of a family were running the racket at the house," police said adding cases were registered against seven persons in this connection and efforts are on to nab four others.

"They were using three mobile numbers for betting. They were placing bets in every match," inspector in charge of Dhanupali police station, P K Rout said adding the arrested were identified as Md Fahim, Md Asif and Md Anwar Mullick.

While Abdul Hamid and his three sons - Md Asif, Md Fahim and Md Alim were running the racket in their house, three persons - Md Anwar Mullick, Md Akram and Kancha alias Bikram Thapa - were working as staff in the racket. The staff were engaged in collecting money and were paid Rs 4500 each per month, the police said.

Police have also seized two four wheelers, two bikes, one laptop and nine mobile phones from their possession.

Around Rs 1 lakh rupees were being bet in every match. The accused were earning around Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 each in every match. Around 25 to 30 persons were betting regularly, said sub divisional police officer P K Mohapatra.

"The racket was operating for the last few months. They were also taking bets on one day matches," he said adding investigation was into it was on.